Sharing? What's that??

i think i've made it fairly obvious that christmas is my favorite time of the year. one reason - baking. i love to bake.

tonight i made cinnamon roasted almonds. i had intended to share these by putting them in a few goodie bags. yeah....not gonna last that long (and keep in mind i made 2 pounds worth...) they're good! and super easy....

what you need:

1 pound of almonds

1 egg

1 cup of sugar

1 teaspoon of cold water

1 teaspoon of salt

1 teaspoon of cinnamon

what you need to do:

preheat oven to 250

whip up the egg white and water until fluffy. stir the almonds into this mixture (don't be grossed out - it just looks like your mixing them into a bowl of spit). once well coated combine sugar, salt, and cinnamon. coat well.

spread nuts on cookie sheet and bake for an hour. enjoy! (and trust me - you will :))

Making a List...

i've been rather absent from the blogging world it seems.....

we've been getting situated in the new place and getting ready for Christmas. i have a ton of pictures to post but haven't gotten around to uploading them yet. who knows when it will happen...

i've already determined that gifts (at least some of them) are going to be late. i had high hopes of crocheting/knitting something for everyone but that quickly fell apart. i had counted on all that free time at work and then BAM - they gave me stuff to do! who knew?! then the moving took away more than a week of my cozy nights sitting on working so.....yeah.... but i'm not getting stressed. this is my absolute favorite time of the year and if they gifts are late - they're late. if people get mad

(which i'm sure they won't) then that's too bad.

i also need to make time for baking - i LOVE to bake this time of year :) i already have a list a mile long of all the ingredients i'll need :)

tonight chris and i went shopping. we finally sat down this past weekend and made a list of everyone we're buying for and what we're buying them. and for the most part we got it all done which makes me happy. that and going out and buying buying buying always makes me happy - which isn't great i guess - but oh well :) we found some really cute stuff so i'm excited :)

and now that it's almost bedtime i'm off to have some dinner :)

oh - christmas cards will be going out soon! if you think i don't have your address (and just to be safe - assume i don't) e-mail it to me! and if you want to send me one (:)) e-mail me as well :)

hmmmm..think that's it for now :)

hope ya'll are doing just peachy!

p.s. i hate the spacing on this. it just mushed everything i typed into one lump and won't fix it. argh.

Happy Birthday Chris!!!

Happy Birthday to you!

Happy Birthday to you!

Happy Birthday Dear Chris.....

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO YOU!!!!!

i love you

Halloween 2007

(i actually typed 'Halloween 2006...it's a bitch getting old...)



Here are some pictures from my Halloween baking adventures :)

First off we have Almond Bars with a dyed orange frosting to make them more festive :) They turned out fantastic! Just as good as Chris's sister made them! (Unlike the sugar cookies - she gave me the recipe but I'm still convinced she left out an ingredient just so that hers will always be better.......kidding of course...) I found the recipe for these delicious bars here.






Next up were the Scary Eyeball Cookies! I was incredibly pleased at how easy there were and how cute they turned out! Big hit! :) The recipe for these can be found here :) Enjoy!

*(I used the brown Reeses Pieces for the pupils instead of the Butter Finger BB's)

And here is the proud Girl Scout with her cookies :) (the vest is mine as are all the badges...)

Hope y'all had a great Halloween!!

Sunday Monday

Happy Days!

One year ago this past Sunday - Chris and I met :)
One year ago this past Monday - Chris asked me out :)

We spent the weekend up in Duluth - beautiful weather for once! :) Our main reason for heading in that direction was to see my sister who flew in with her baby (my nephew..guess that's obvious though...) Max from NJ. I haven't seen Max since he was born - and he was absolutely adorable!! Unfortunately I was rather dumb and forgot to bring my camera - well we brought the camera but failed to buy batteries for it! (the pictures below come from Carrie - thank you!)

We drove up on Saturday and stopped in to see my friend and former co-worker Chevra at Michelina's (working that fantastic Saturday shift!). It was fun to see her and chat (hi Chevra!). After that we headed downtown to see Carrie and her new offices for 4TrackFilms (check them out!). It was beautiful - great color choices and great location! I was very impressed and in awe of it all! Next we headed to the lakewalk and enjoyed a nice stroll with my sister Amy and Max. It was great seeing her and I'm glad she was finally able to meet Chris :) And Max is just the happiest baby I've seen - all giggles and smiles - so cute! (tick tock tick tock tick tock.....sigh....)

For dinner we met Carrie and Steve at Sammy's Pizza to celebrate :) Without them Chris and I would never have met! So thank you very much Carrie - I owe it all to you! I still can't believe it's been 1 year! It's just flown by!

After dinner we headed back to their place for dessert - I made a spice cake with chocolate frosting and coconut (I died the coconut to make it look like fall leaves but ended up with with something that looked like the Jamaican Flag threw up on) It was really great to see Carrie again and actually have the time to sit and chat! She's looks so adorable with her little belly! (Tick Tock Tick Tock Tick Tock....[pouty face]...)

Sunday we relaxed - walked downtown and along the lakewalk. Had lunch at the Brewhouse (yum!) and then dinner at my parents. All in all it was a great weekend although it made me miss Duluth a lot. I just love that town - especially in the fall. And I miss beling able to hang out on a weeknight with Carrie and just sit and knit/crochet. So that kinda made me sad upon leaving - I'll just have to try and make it up there more often.

I'll post more about Chris and I on our (or what we've determined to be the 'official' year anniversary) year anniversary - October 7th (our first date). Suffice it to say that I've never been happier in my life! I love you Chris!! :)

# 5

9.13.07

thursday

5th post

i just finished Day 7 - but as i had started uploading pictures for it a few days ago it published it in the order it was started in - so go back a few posts and you'll find it. it's long.

as for the rest of my thursday - the day of eight million posts. i went home shortly after the last blog. i was in severe pain. severe. i barely made it home and then just basically wanted to die. in all my years of suffering from severe cramps i have never ever felt such severe pain. i thought i might have to go the ER. it royally sucked. i finally managed to get to sleep though.

when i woke up i felt fantastic! i decided it would be a good idea to get in my exercise. i did the treadmill. i did sit-ups. i felt like dying again - not from cramps this time. just general nausea but still. as mentioned earlier common sense and i are not good buddies.

i feel okay now. and i accomplished most of what i wanted to despite brief encounter with death. i baked - it looks awful but tastes good. i blogged. all is good.

now i must rest.

goodnight :)

Happy Birthday Aunt Fran!

Happy Birthday!

Friday was Fran's Birthday!

To celebrate I made a German Chocolate Cake. Then Nathan, Chris and I took her out to dinner at the Birchwood Cafe (very good!). It was nice evening. Good company. Good conversation. Good food. Good times :)

And here are some pictures from the evening....

Knitted Beach Towel?

it's folded look can deceive you....

2006. The year that I learned the art of knitting.


Having a pregnant sister I decided it would the perfect time to learn - I could make her a baby blanket! What could be easier to knit than a big square? As it turns out...lots of things are easier. Buying a blanket at a store would be one. Paying someone else to knit a blanket for you would also have been easier. But I wanted this gift to be special - and special it is (but I think we all know what kind of 'special' I'm referring to*)


I forget the specifics but I ended up with three separate pieces. Apart I thought they look alright. Then I realized how long and skinny they were. Then I sewed them together and was horrified at what I saw....a knitted beach towel big enough for me to lay on. Poor Maxime (he is the recipient of this horrid gift**)


And just to further humiliate myself...here are some pictures.......

spread out in all it's ugly glory....

just to demonstrate how long the blanket is. (I'm 5'2)

my newest project

After seeing the results of the first attempt I decided to start a new - hopefully better - blanket. I still plan on sending the first - but I wanted to try and create something different. I am too poor to be buying new yarn and I just so happened to WAY over estimate the amount I would need for the first project and have a shitload of it left over.


So far I must admit that I am very proud of this project - minus the fact that I forgot to create the border I wanted to. I learned how to stream in a new color without knotting the strings (it's working thus far). It's hard to see in the picture but I have a tiny little row of yellow that is in there. I also learned the famous purl stitch from Chris's mom, Audrey, this past weekend. It took a few attempts but I have it mastered. I am now in the process of writing out the pattern as I go - I have this picture in my head - hopefully it works. I'll keep you updated on the progress (I know you're just super excited about that, right?)


Speaking of Chris's family - I forgot to continue my weekend story. I don't know what I planned on saying. It was great. I really like Willmar - it reminded me of the towns I grew up in. Not exceptional I guess - just gave me that feeling of nostalgia that I love. His sister Meaghan made some awesome sugar cookies and so I asked for the recipe. I attempted this a few days ago - not the same. They taste good but they are just not the same. I also attempted to dye them blue - they turned out a mold green. (I've been into dying my food - have you ever dyed your pancakes? It's fun - do it). Maybe for my next blog I'll include some pictures of my baking adventures and include the recipe.


As for right now I'm going to go back to my knitting. I know what you're thinking. Shouldn't your broke mooching ass be looking for job? Well I did. There were a total of 3 new jobs posted since yesterday. And I applied for them. So there.....


I should go exercise....hmph.....






*I don't mean to be politically incorrect........

okay...maybe I do.....






** Maxime is my newest nephew! He was born on Friday - April 6th 2007 at 4:15 a.m.! I don't have pictures yet but as soon as I do I'll post more.